Drinks like tea and coffee contain ingredients beneficial to the human health. For example, a tea infusion contains such wholesome ingredients as carbohydrates, proteins, free amino acids, fatty acids, polyphenols, organic acids, plant alkaloids, and minerals. At the same time, a cup of coffee contains caffeine, antioxidants, polyphenols, proteins, tannins, linoleic acid, alkaloids, and so on. Therefore, many people would like to drink tea or coffee during or after work in order to reinvigorate themselves and maintain or enhance health.
In view of the above, the inventor of the present invention developed a tea brewer which is easily portable and can make tea or coffee rapidly, as described in further detail below. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the tea brewer 1 has a top side concavely provided with a receiving space 10 and a bottom side formed with a through hole 13. Also, the tea brewer 1 is peripherally provided with a plurality of assembly holes 18 (only one shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) adjacent to the bottom side of the tea brewer 1. A water-stopping plate 2 is detachably connected to the bottom side of the tea brewer 1 and is peripherally provided with a plurality of projecting rods 21 (only one shown in FIG. 2) which are respectively inserted in the assembly holes 18 and are reciprocally movable up and down therein. The water-stopping plate 2 is centrally provided with a post 23 which extends into the through hole 13 and whose top end is detachably connected with a water-stopping block 25. When the tea brewer 1 is placed on a tabletop and the water-stopping plate 2 has fallen naturally, each projecting rod 21 presses against the lower edge of the corresponding assembly hole 18, and the water-stopping block 25 covers the through hole 13 completely (as shown in FIG. 1) to prevent the liquid in the receiving space 10 from flowing out through the through hole 13. When the tea brewer 1 is placed on a cup, each projecting rod 21 is pressed against the upper edge of the corresponding assembly hole 18 instead, and the water-stopping block 25 is moved to a position where it no longer covers the through hole 13; as a result, the liquid in the receiving space 10 is allowed to flow out via the through hole 13. Hence, while a drink such as tea or coffee is brewed in the tea brewer 1, there is no need to worry that the drink may flow out of the tea brewer 1. When brewing is completed, the user only has to place the tea brewer 1 on a cup, and the drink in the tea brewer 1 will flow into the cup automatically. As such, the tea brewer 1 features great convenience of use.
However, after continued research in the tea brewer-related fields, the inventor has found that the tea brewer 1 still has its drawbacks in use and may result in poor user experiences. First of all, referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2, the projecting rods 21 are integrally formed with the water-stopping plate 2 and are not retractable. Therefore, in order to connect the water-stopping plate 2 to the bottom side of the tea brewer 1, the projecting rods 21 must be deformed, or they cannot be inserted into their respective assembly holes 18. When it is desired to remove the water-stopping plate 2 for cleaning, the projecting rods 21 must be deformed again so as to be released from the assembly holes 18. Thus, neither the installation nor the removal the water-stopping plate 2 can be completed without the user applying considerable force to deform the projecting rods 21. This not only causes inconvenience in use but also subjects the junctions between the projecting rods 21 and the water-stopping plate 2 to a great stress and consequently the risk of breakage, which, if happening, will render the tea brewer 1 useless. Moreover, the inconvenient removal of the water-stopping plate 2 from the tea brewer 1 adds to the difficulty of cleaning After all, the tiny gaps between the water-stopping plate 2 and the tea brewer 1 in the connected state make it impossible to directly clean or wipe the water-stopping plate 2, but if it is desired to detach the water-stopping plate 2 for cleaning, the projecting rods 21 are subject to the aforesaid risk of breakage. Consequently, the cleaning of the water-stopping plate 2 becomes a stressful task for the user.
Secondly, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the operation between the water-stopping plate 2 and the tea brewer 1 is, in most cases, tested by the manufacturer by moving the water-stopping plate 2 vertically back and forth. More specifically, the water-stopping plate 2 under test is displaced with respect to a cup while the bottom side of the water-stopping plate 2 remains parallel to the top side of the cup. In practical use, however, the user may not necessarily keep the bottom side of the water-stopping plate 2 parallel to the top side of a cup when placing the tea brewer 1 on the cup. Chances are a lateral edge of the water-stopping plate 2 will contact with the cup before the entire water-stopping plate 2 is laid on the cup. In consequence, the water-stopping plate 2 is displaced in an inclined manner, and due to the typically circular cross-sectional shape of the projecting rods 21, the water-stopping plate 2 can tilt at a large angle. Here comes the problem. If there is a dented, bumpy, or otherwise irregular surface (as indicated by the dashed-line circles in FIG. 3) on the inner wall of any assembly hole 18 or on the periphery of any projecting rod 21, the manufacturer, who generally does not test the tea brewer 1 by displacing the water-stopping plate 2 at an angle, is unlikely to find the irregular surface, which, if present and if the projecting rods 21 are rotated as a result of the user's slantwise displacement of the water-stopping plate 2, may cause the projecting rods 21 to be stuck in the assembly holes 18 (as shown in FIG. 3), thereby preventing the water-stopping plate 2 from falling naturally. Should the water-stopping plate 2 fail to fall as intended, a lifting of the tea brewer 1 from the cup will leave the through hole 13 open, i.e., without being covered by the water-stopping block 25, and the liquid in the tea brewer 1 will keep flowing out through the through hole 13 and thus soil the tabletop.
According to the above, the existing tea brewers are still flawed in terms of use, and because of that, research and development efforts have been made by tea brewer manufacturers to provide consumers with better and more convenient products and to effectively secure a larger market share. One important issue facing the tea brewer manufacturers nowadays, and also the key to survival in this competitive market, is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks without compromising the performances of known tea brewers.